


Chilly Down

by tmwillson3



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Labyrinth References, WTF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 16:44:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17729009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmwillson3/pseuds/tmwillson3
Summary: Is it a drug-induced dream or a vision from the Force? Kylo Ren can't figure it out, nor does he want to.





	Chilly Down

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Star Wars or anything else I reference (especially Labyrinth). This fic is part of the Drabble Me This series on the Reylo Fic Recs group on Facebook. The art is by dianaiiz on deviantart, a great piece! It was an odd one for figuring out a scenario until I was listening to the Labyrinth's Chilly Down, and then I got a crazy idea. If you've seen Labyrinth, you have some idea of the wtf nonsense about to come. I hope you like it!

Click, click, click!

 

What was that? Kylo looked around, confused. Why was it dark, and why was he in Takodana Forest again? For that matter, why did the forest seem to glitter despite the fading light in the background?

 

Click, click, click!

 

And who kept clicking their tongue?

 

He reached out with the Force but felt no presence near him. He stomped in the direction of the annoying noise, saber lit and ready to slice in half whoever was making the infernal racket.

 

“Kylo, you've joined us at last,” said Snoke, his favorite golden robe billowing in the breeze. 

 

Kylo powered down his saber out of respect for his mentor, rubbing his helmet’s eye holes. Were Kylo's eyes deceiving him, or did Snoke's robe seem to sparkle even more than usual? It seemed like a trail of gold followed the Supreme Leader as he approached Kylo, a sinister smile on his face and arms wide as he twirled to face his apprentice. Any second now, he expected his Supreme Leader to break into song about puppy dog tails or something equally inane while glitter sprang from his fingertips. 

 

“I don't understand, Supreme Leader,” said Kylo hesitantly.

 

“It's time to complete your training,” said Snoke, sweeping toward him.

 

Kylo ignored the snarky response to ask if it was training to become fabulous and focused on the gratitude. He bowed and went to grab Snoke's hand, but Snoke brushed him off.

 

“When the sun goes down, the brothers come ‘round. I'm going to need a little help to do this right, but they know what to do,” his mentor said, motioning ahead. “It's time to chilly down.”

 

“Chilly….down?” asked a dumbfounded Kylo when Snoke made a match appear and struck it against a tree trunk, lighting it and throwing it onto some firewood that immediately started to burn.

 

“Yes. There's only one way to fulfill your destiny; you must let it go. Conceal, don't feel, my boy! Become numb to it all, or as I like to say: chilly down.”

 

Just as suddenly as Snoke appeared, he vanished, melting into thin air as his eight praetorian guards magically appeared in his place.

 

One guard approached him as the others fanned out in a semi-circle around him. The first one said, “Don't got no problems-”

 

“No problems!” echoed the rest at attention. 

 

The main guard spread out his red-clad arms. “Don't got no suitcase-”

 

“No suitcase!”

 

Kylo lit up his saber, yelling, “What are you trying to say?”

 

“Don't got no clothes to worry about-”

 

“Of course you don't!” He wanted to call them idiots, but he resisted and drew closer to them. “You have armor. Everything is provided by the gracious, all-knowing Supreme Leader.”

 

“Exactly,” said the guard, drawing closer. “He gives so much, and he asks so little in return.”

 

“I've given  _ everything _ to him!” screamed Kylo, images of him stabbing his father assaulting his eyes and splitting his soul just a little more.

 

“But that's not everything, and you know it,” hissed another guard, coming forward and joining the first.

 

“What do you mean?” asked Kylo, fear creeping into him as he prepared to fight both.

 

“You just threw in your father; now throw in your mother!”

 

Roaring loudly, he cried, “I will!”

 

He swung his saber, coming down on the guard. Within moments, the guard's hand was separated cleanly from his wrist, and the other hand caught the fallen one. The guard sounded as though he were smiling, throwing his hand into the fire as he said, “I just throw in my hand-”

 

“Throw in my hand!” cried all the other guards in unison as they separated their right hands from their body and threw them into the fire.

 

“Then throw in my foot-”

 

“Throw in my foot!”

 

Kylo watched in horror as all the guards lifted their left foot and detached it from their bodies and threw it into the fire.

 

“With the chilliest bunch in the galaxy-”

 

“Sure don't look like much, but we sure chilly chilly!”

 

All the guards linked arms and did the can-can as they jumped and made small steps toward Kylo. Kylo was ready to declare them all insane when they all as one stopped and looked at him. 

 

“Now it's your turn, Kylo. Join us. Join Snoke. Throw in your hand with us.”

 

“Then your feet.”

 

“Then finally, your head.”

 

All was silent, Kylo’s increased breathing the only sign of life.

 

“But how can I move if I don't have feet?” asked Kylo, not understanding, starting to tense. “How can I think?”

 

“Because you're walking directly into the fire, of course.”

 

Suddenly, Kylo was in front of the fire without his saber, all of the guards encircling him and chanting.

 

“Give it all! Give it all!”

 

“This is not-”

 

“Don't you want to become a new Vader?” hissed one.

 

“No, I don't think he does,” said another, looking at the others.

 

“Yes, yes, I do!” cried Kylo. “I'll do anything to prove my allegiance.”

 

“Then give  _ everything  _ to the Supreme Leader to complete your training, including your new student!”

 

Rey. Kylo's body froze at the thought of giving over the first person he felt a connection to over to Snoke. He had wanted to train her himself, then present her to Snoke. He wasn't ready to lose her….

 

“If you chilly down, you won't feel a thing. You'll be able to fully depend on the Supreme Leader and never need to think again! You'll be his tool, the tool of the Dark Side-”

 

“I don't want to be a tool. That's not what the Supreme Leader has planned for me,” said Kylo, hysteria entering his voice.

 

“Yes, it is. It always was, but you knew that, didn't you? What do you think Vader was?” sneered another guard as all moved in closer.

 

“He was the most powerful-”

 

“He was subservient to Darth Sidious until Sidious’ death, a mere pawn. Didn't you know that?” 

 

Kylo was glad to have his face be covered in that moment. Pain and embarrassment filled him. This had to be a nightmare, the worst nightmare he ever had.

 

“He didn't know! He didn't know!” sing-songed all the guards. “All the things you could know, if only you trusted your Supreme Leader-”

 

“I do, but I don't trust you!” snapped Kylo.

 

“He'll tell you the same thing. Vader died because he killed his master; don't bring that fate upon yourself. Follow him, and join us! Throw in your head.”

 

Two picked their heads off their bodies and threw them into the fire, and then the rest looked at him expectantly. 

 

“Now it's your turn. Do it.”

 

“No!” cried Kylo, seeing a way to escape. 

 

This wasn't what Snoke wanted for him. It never had been. His father wasn't right; he couldn't be.

 

Kylo used the Force to send all the rest of the hands and heads into the fire, and he escaped their grasp in the chaos caused.

 

“Hey! Where you going with a head like that? You still need to come in!” shouted one guard.

 

“It's against the rules to throw other people's heads! Come back here!”

 

“Never!” he cried, running faster to escape. “This isn't what the Supreme Leader wants!”

 

“Yes it is!” cried the guards, slowly pulling themselves from the fire to follow after him. “And we're going to take great pleasure in helping you chilly down!”

 

He kept running, determined to escape and glad that he didn't have any Bowcaster injury in his side. He kept going until he suddenly realized that he was going toward the light, the sun rising in front of him. 

 

“No!” he yelled, purposely stopping. “I will not be seduced by the Light!”

 

He changed his direction to run perpendicular to his previous path, down the middle between the Dark and the Light. He kept up his breakneck pace until needing to rest. He leaned against a rock, or what he thought was an abnormally large, glittery rock in the gray forest, until he heard a female gasp. Turning to face the noise, he suddenly found himself in the evening twilight in the desert, the item he was resting against actually an AT-AT. He thought he had seen everything until he saw a young girl with three buns staring up at him with big eyes. 

 

When she unfroze, she grabbed her wooden staff and got into a fighting stance, trying to appear brave. “Who are you? I'm not afraid of you!”

 

He moved closer to her, but she stuck out her staff, her eyes fierce as she grit her teeth. Suddenly, it dawned on him who it was, even if he was more confused than ever why  _ she _ was here.

 

“Rey, it's me! I won't hurt you,” he said, reaching out a gloved hand.

 

She stared daggers at him and only brought her staff away slightly.

 

“How did you know my name? Are you my father?”

 

He wanted to laugh, but then he saw the hungry look in her eyes, the one begging for belonging. All he wanted was to give her everything he had been denied, so he knelt down and removed his gloves.

 

“No, Rey, I'm not. I'm...Ben.”

 

Kylo Ren seemed too scary, and he wanted her to trust him, even though she probably wouldn't remember this. No doubt this was some vision from the Force, allowing him to see her when she was much younger. He would take advantage of it.

 

“You can trust me, Rey, I promise. I won't abandon you like your friends did in that ship.”

 

“How did you know that?” she gasped, dropping her staff.

 

“There's a lot I know about you because I….care about you,” he said, choking on the words.

 

He had compassion for her. He'd never admit it out loud, but here, in this vision, he could be honest, especially if it helped gain her trust.

 

She ran into his arms, squeezing him tight around his mid-section. He was unprepared for the sensation, so it took him a few minutes to respond in kind and hug her back. It was the sweetest thing he had ever experienced, this joy and trust that young Rey had in him. He desperately wanted the older version to develop that same trust in him, to see him as more.

 

“Thank you. No one's ever cared about me before,” said Rey, pulling back and taking him by the hand into her home. “Sit here. I'll make us some portions.”

 

He sat in a chair and put his gloves back on. She excitedly made some bread for them to share, breaking off half for him when it was all done. As they ate, Rey told him more about her life in the desert, and he marveled over everything she did until she started to yawn.

 

“I'm tired. Sorry, but I don't have a real bed for you. Not even for me, yet. Just that mat, but you're welcome to stay. It's cold out there,” she said, looking up at his helmet. “You can take that off, too, now. The sun has set.”

 

“I, come here, please,” he requested, patting his lap and hoping that his idea worked. He didn't want her to see the wound she gave him.

 

She climbed in curiously, eyes wide and expectant. “What is it?”

 

“I will take off my mask, but only if I can tell you a story first,” he said gently. “You can listen here if you like.”

 

“Okay!” she cried, lying down in his lap and looking at him happily. “I'm ready.”

 

He started his story, telling her the story of how they would meet in the future. 

 

“And when he realized that she had seen the map he needed, he decided that she was all he needed, so he put her into a deep sleep-”

 

Surprised and baffled, he saw that Rey had fallen asleep in his lap. She looked so peaceful; for several moments, he leaned his chin against his right hand and watched her. Then, he gently picked her up once more and laid her on the bed roll. 

 

As soon as he stood up, suddenly there was no more AT-AT, just a starry sky above and ahead filling his eyes. “It makes no sense at all!” cried Kylo, tired of it all as he stomped and kicked sand. Whatever this had been, he was done. Every bit of fun and thrill was gone now that Rey was gone and he had escaped the guards. 

 

“Lord Ren?”

 

He jerked his head in the direction of the voice. When the droid spoke again, he turned around, but he was too fast. His feet slid, and he found his world was falling...falling into darkness. The pain swept through him, his head and body aching everywhere. 

 

“Lord Ren, you're on the  _ Finalizer.  _ It is 1300 standard hours. My scans say that you're conscious again. Open your eyes so that I may finish my report.”

 

He opened his eyes, the bright light blinding him, and he brought a hand out to hide the light.

 

“What happened?” he asked groggily.

 

“On Starkiller Base, you were bleeding too much. You were knocked unconscious for your own safety while being transported.”

 

So all that wasn't a vision from the Force, only a medicine-induced nightmare? Young Rey wouldn't remember him? She had felt so real there in his lap….

 

“Also, your presence has been requested by the Supreme Leader after you've rested. Welcome back.”

 

“Good.”

 

Kylo had  _ so  _ many questions for the Supreme Leader.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!


End file.
